


Rocket Science

by xylophones



Series: Zero Gravity 'verse [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Action/Adventure, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Bad Flirting, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Oblivious Katsuki Yuuri, Oblivious Victor Nikiforov, Outer Space, Romance, Science, Star Trek AU, Starfleet, animal injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 08:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11893800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xylophones/pseuds/xylophones
Summary: “Vitya,” Yuuri calls, “could you hold this for me?”“Anything for you,solnyshko,” Viktor says with frightening sincerity. “I’d knock out the stars one by one if you asked me to. I’d take on an entire fleet of Klingon ships. I’d––”“Okay, calm down, Romeo,” Yuri grumbles. “He’s literally just asking you to hold a bag of bird shit.”The space adventures continue. 5 times Viktor and Yuuri almost said they love each other + 1 time they did.





	Rocket Science

**Author's Note:**

> im sorry this took so long omg
> 
> quick warning regarding the animal injury tag: there are mentions of a hurt doggo but its nothing explicit and it's not any worse than how makka was sick in ep 10 but!! be warned if thats something you're sensitive to!! if you wanna skip it, it's everything between "I’m not going to lie" and “Captain,” Seung-Gil says slowly," in section 03. 
> 
> another thing! this picks up literally 5 mins after TBG, the first part of this series, so if you havent read that maybe go check it out? thanks!

01.

Yuuri is kissing Viktor.

He’s _kissing_ Viktor. Yuuri Katsuki-- first officer of the starship Enterprise, highest ranking natural born human in Starfleet, lover of dogs and science-- is kissing Viktor. Viktor, his captain, who _somehow_ has feelings for Yuuri.

Yuuri cannot believe this is his life.

“Are you okay?” He asks, pulling back after a while because he notices that Viktor is shaking. “Is–– Are you uncomfortable? Do you want to stop?”

“No,” Viktor breathes out shakily. “I’ve just wanted this for a really long time and I never thought– nevermind, it doesn’t matter. Please continue.”

Yuuri wants to ask what he means by “a really long time” and “never thought” but then Viktor is hauling him in by his collar and his mouth is so warm and his hands so soft on Yuuri’s waste and really, it would be a crime to stop now so Yuuri kisses him back hard and forgets everything but Viktor’s name.

 

The next morning Christophe catches Yuuri sneaking out of Viktor’s room. His shift starts soon and he needs to go back to his and Phichit’s room to get a change of clothes. He opens Viktor’s door and runs, literally, right into Chris.

“Yuuri!” Chris grins. “Well, well, well. Walk of shame?”

“It’s not a walk of shame if there’s nothing to be shameful of,” Yuuri snarks despite the heavy flush building on his face. “Good morning, Chris.”

Chris chuckles lightly and throws an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders. He falls into step next to him, grinning like a cheshire cat.

“You and Viktor are official now?”

“Yes,” Yuuri nods, still blushing.

“Adorable,” Chris coos. “And are those–– oh wow, Yuuri.”

“What?”

“That’s a lot of hickies,” Chris teases. “You look like you got mauled by a bear.”

Yuuri squeaks and slaps his hands over his neck, trying to cover them up. Chris cackles.

“I-Is it that noticeable? I haven’t looked in a mirror yet.”

“It’s like a toddler tried to strangle you with purple finger paints,” Chris tells him gleefully, “like you wore an octopus as a scarf.”

Yuuri groans, embarrassed.

“You’re also wearing his shirt, if you didn’t notice,” Chris points out. “Unless you also own a Starfleet Academy Piloting Program shirt with ‘Nikiforov’ printed on the back?”

Yuuri is a human disaster. He never should have left Viktor’s room.

“Please,” he begs Chris. “Help me get to my room without embarrassing me further.”

“Oh, I would gladly escort you back to your room,” Chris grins. “Anything for my dear captain’s boyfriend.”

Yuuri smiles despite the teasing. Chris is such a delight, even when he’s making Yuuri blush so hard his face feels like the surface of the sun. They banter back and forth for a while while they make their way through the ship. Thankfully, it’s early enough in the artificial day that they don’t run into anyone. The dimmed hallway lights remind him of dawn on Earth. Christophe’s easy conversation reminds Yuuri of the times they use to pull all-nighters studying for finals in the library, watching the sun rise through the windows and trying not to forget the basics of organic chemistry.

Soon the large hallway tapers down into the residential halls. Chris walks Yuuri all the way to his door, joking that this may be one of the last times he’s walking Yuuri to his and Phichit’s room instead of Viktor’s.

“Shut up,” Yuuri smiles.

“You think I’m joking, but I’m not,” Chris hums. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you move your stuff up on my day off.”

“We’ve only been dating for _five hours_ maybe slow down a little,” Yuuri chuckles.

“Hey, I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. Pretty soon you’ll be begging Zaira and I to stop the ship at the next trading moon so you can pick up a pair of engagement rings.”

Yuuri smiles. “You’d complain, but you’d do it for us.”

“Of course I would! Anything for my best friends.” Chris winks. “Besides, I owe you. You just won me the ship wide betting pool.”

“The betting pool? I thought Viktor was kidding about that. You can’t be serious.”

Chris smirks. Yuuri groans, but decides to let it go. He flattens his hand against the scanner and opens the door to his and Phichit’s rooms.

“I don’t have to remind you that your shift begins in 10 minutes, do I, Luitenant? See you on the bridge, Chris,” he throws over his shoulder, right before the door slides shut with a hiss.

“Just let me know when you wanna make a stop for those wedding rings!” Chris shouts through the closed door.

Yuuri laughs, shaking his head. He needs to get his uniform, his data pad, and he needs to run down to the lab to pick up his recent report and make it onto the bridge in 10 minutes. He doesn’t have time to be embarrassed about Chris’s good-natured teasing.

Yuuri also has to do something to cover up the impressive array of love bites that Viktor left on his neck.

 

Eventually, Yuuri makes it onto the bridge. He’s thirty minutes late and covered in patchy concealer but it doesn’t really matter. He’s the first officer; he figures he can be late every once and awhile.

Yuuri hesitates just before he steps out of the turbolift. He doesn’t know how to act. He and Viktor didn’t really talk last night besides _yes, we’re dating now_ and _yes, oh my god, do that again._ Yuuri blushes just thinking about it.

He’s worried about what the crew might think. Does Viktor want to keep this a secret, maybe only for a little while? Maybe they should play it safe, act normal. Yes, Yuuri decides. Playing it safe. Strictly professional.

“Good morning,” Yuuri greets, stepping out.

“Yuuri!” Viktor exclaims as he turns in his chair to pout at him. “You weren’t there when I woke up this morning! I have been deprived of my morning snuggles!”

The bridge is dead quiet except for the sound of Yuuri’s dignity shattering into a million tiny pieces.

“Uh!” Yuuri chokes. “S-Sorry?”

“You should be,” Viktor sniffs. “I can’t believe it, my boyfriend left me to wake up cold and alone. Can you believe it, Chris?”

“What?” Chris deadpans. “How could he.”

Yuuri looks around frantically for a waste disposal airlock he can fling himself out of.

“You can make it up to me,” Viktor flirts. “Later.”

“Oh my god _,”_ Leo says, communications headset dangling limply from his hands. “ _Oh my god.”_

“Congratulations!” Guang Hong calls out. “It’s been a long time coming!”

“Katsudon, _why_ do you put up with him? _”_

Ah. It seems the communications line was up. Yuuri hopes that it was just open to the security channel, where Yuri is, and not the entire ship.

“Calm down, Yura,” Sara’s voice filters through. “Good job, you two. Invite me to the wedding!”

Okay, _maybe,_ the communications line only went to security and engineering, maybe no one else heard–

“Yuuri, how could you!” Phichit wails, his voice crackling over the line. “Why didn’t you tell me! I had to find out through a ship wide broadcast, I’m so betrayed!”

Okay, so it was the entire ship. The entire crew of the Enterprise just heard Viktor shamelessly flirting with him. Just Yuuri’s luck.

Yuuri sighs, caught between being exasperated and strangely pleased that everyone knew that Viktor was his and _wow, wasn’t that a nice thought._

“Back to work everyone,” he calls out. He signals for Leo to cut the line.

“Alright,” Yuuri says, recentering himself, trying not to freak out. “We have thirty-six hours before we land on Axel-444 in the Kubo star system so the landing team needs to start prepping. I emailed the assignments for each department to you, Guang Hong, so if you could send those out for me please? That would be great. Also, Chris and Zaira, when we dock it needs to be a little farther out than usual, there’s an acid storm and–”

Yuuri stops his daily job delegation when he notices that Viktor is still pouting.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Viktor says airily, spinning his chair around to turn his back on Yuuri like the petty child that he is. “Just thinking about how my horrible boyfriend has ignored me all morning.”

Yuuri frowns. He’s _not_ a horrible boyfriend. Or maybe he is? In Yuuri’s defense, this is his first relationship since high school and it’s been less than twenty-four hours, so maybe he hasn’t gotten the hang of things yet. Sue him.

He marches over to Viktor’s captain’s chair and drops a kiss on his perfectly styled silver head.

“Good morning, Vitya,” Yuuri says. And then he goes back to doing his duty as a first officer while Viktor reaches over to play with the edge of Yuuri’s cuff.

“Okay,” Yuuri sighs when he’s finally done announcing assignments. He looks around the bridge at his crew’s expectant faces. “Are there any questions?”

Seung-Gil raises his hand.

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to thank you for finally giving in and putting a stop to all of our misery. Nikiforov’s whining was insufferable.”

“Um, what?”

“Katsuki, it’s been a long year,” Seung-Gil continues. “I’m going down to the medbay now. Nikiforov, if you ever come to me asking for heartache relief again, I _will_ transfer ships and leave you without a chief medical officer.”

Yuuri gapes as Seung-Gil and the rest of the non-piloting or communications staff file out of the bridge and into the turbolift.

“Heartache relief?”

Yuuri turns back to Viktor. He’s still fiddling with the ends of Yuuri’s sleeve cuff much like a cat with a piece of yarn. Yuuri finally gets the hint and catches Viktor’s hand in his so he can interlock their fingers. Viktor grins, pleased.

“Please,” Yuuri begs, “ _please_ tell me that you didn’t actually ask Seung-Gil to prescribe you heartache relief.”  

“I could say that I didn’t, but then I’d be lying and I don’t want to lie to you, _solnyshko,_ ” Viktor purs. “Also, I wasn’t paying attention. What are we supposed to do today?”

Yuuri rolls his eyes, feigning exasperation. “I lo–– um. You’re a mess.”

Viktor’s eyes glitter. “Yes, but I’m _your_ mess.”

“Yeah, you are mine, aren’t you?” Yuuri gives up trying to push down his fond smile.

From the corner of his eye, Yuuri catches Chris mouthing the words “wedding rings” at him.

 

 

 

02.

They lose Makkachin, Viktor’s jet, during a landing mission.

It’s no one’s fault. The jet was parked at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a wide chasm on the unnamed planet they were assigned to explore that week. It would have been fine if there hadn’t been some unexpected seismic activity and if the rock face making up the cliff was more stable. Thankfully, there was nothing in the jet save for a couple of empty water bottles and some old flight manuals.

Yuuri stands with the rest of the landing party, peering over the edge of the cliff at the lump of crumpled metal at the bottom of the chasm.

“Maybe we can salvage it,” he says hopefully.

The jet bursts into flames.

“It was old,” Viktor says, staring mournfully down at the flaming wreckage. “It was bound to happen eventually.”

“We could still ask Sara to try to fix it,” Yuuri offers, but Viktor just shakes his head.

“It’s not worth it.”

“But, we have so many memories in that jet,” Yuuri protests. “Think about all the times you saved my life with it.”

Viktor smiles. “And all the times I almost killed both of us.”

The flames dance along Makkachin’s wings. Yuuri thinks it’s strangely beautiful.

“Remember that time I designed a flight plan so convoluted and unnecessary they almost banned us from flying for a month?”

“Yes!” Viktor laughs. “The flight plan you did just to spite Professor Newton! That one was my favorite.”

“And remember that time you did a barrel roll in the middle of a test just because I dared you to?”   

“I thought the test proctor was going to kill me,” Viktor chuckles. “Ah, our Academy days were wild.”

Yuri looks back and forth between the two of them incredulously. “ _How_ are you both figures of authority?!”

“Shouldn’t we put the fire out?” Georgi asks, nervously fiddling with his tricorder.

“Already on it.” Phichit hefts out a fire suppressing net from the back of their rover and throws it over the edge of the cliff. It lands squarely on the wreckage, smothering the flames.

“Nice aim!”

“Thanks,” he replies. “Hey, guys? We should maybe not stand at the edge of a cliff that just, you know, broke apart a couple minutes ago. Just an idea.”

Yuuri nods, moving away from the edge. “We should also go down there and try to clean up. We want to leave as little trash behind as possible, it’s mission protocol. Plus, maybe Sara and the rest of Engineering can still do something with the scraps.”

“Goodbye, old friend,” Viktor whispers dramatically, blowing a kiss over the cliff’s edge. “It’s been a pleasure.”

 

When they get back from the mission, Yuuri files a request to get another jet sent to them from the Starfleet base on Earth. It gets shipped to Yavin 5, where the Enterprise will stop and pick it up in six months.

“Six months?!” Viktor cries, flopping down on his bed with a distressed sigh. “That’s an _eternity._ ”

“Sorry, Vitya. It was the soonest I could get it.” Yuuri sheds his uniform jacket and joins Viktor on the bed, curling up against him. “If you want, you can fly one of the transport shuttles while we wait?”

The thing about having Makkachin onboard is that it wasn’t technically necessary. Makkachin wasn’t a science vehicle, and therefore had no place on a ship whose sole goal was to produce scientific research. Makkachin was the equivalent of an old sports car on a shipping freighter. The only reason they got it cleared was because Viktor whined to Yakov until he gave them approval.

“The transport shuttles are _so. Slow_ ,” Viktor whines. “I’d rather just not fly at all.”

Yuuri frowns. Viktor gets restless if he goes too long without piloting. He says it makes him feel like a caged bird.

“Plus,” Viktor continues, “this means I can’t whisk you away on romantic getaways anymore.”

They don’t do it often, but since their first date a couple months ago, Yuuri and Viktor’s favorite thing to do while refueling and resupplying is to take Makkachin out for a ride and see the sights of whatever planet or moon they’re docked at. Yuuri loves these dates. He loves having Viktor all to himself, even for just a couple of hours.

Yuuri starts thinking. Just because they’re grounded on the Enterprise–– literally–– doesn’t mean they can’t go on dates. The Enterprise is huge. It’s its own warp drive capable city. He’ll plan something for the two of them.

Yuuri refuses to go six whole months without taking Viktor out on a date.

 

Yuuri’s favorite place on the whole ship is the PLANT, or the Plant Lab And Nutritional Tower.

The PLANT is a tall, spiraling glass tower in the middle of the ship that serves as both a laboratory and a vegetable garden. It’s ten stories of exotic snapping turtle ferns and Earth potatoes. Everything is meticulously cataloged, and each floor is organized according to home planet environment and species. There isn’t a single leaf in the entire tower that isn’t logged into Yuuri’s plant database.

Yuri’s lab is on the ninth level, with the Earth plants and other vegetation from the Terran quadrant. While the PLANT is held together with a careful labeling system, Yuuri’s lab is held together with hurried notes scribbled on coffee stained paper and duct tape. He has five ongoing projects, one of which has started growing on the ceiling. Yuuri had Phichit help him tape off the area so he could observe it without it contaminating the rest of the lab, but it’s a little hard to track mushroom growth when you have bad eye sight and the mushroom colonies are twenty feet above you. It’s the kind of carefully cultivated chaos that Yuuri finds strangely soothing.

So, when Yuuri starts brainstorming for places on the ship to take Viktor out on a date, his first instinct is to take him to the lab, nevermind that a lab isn’t a typical date location.

In his defense, Viktor’s idea of a date–– now that they don’t have a jet at their disposal–– is scheduling their lunch hours to coincide so they can hold hands in the cafeteria while they choke down their nutrition packets. Hanging out in Yuuri’s lab probably wouldn’t be a disappointment. It’s just that, well, Yuuri wants to be _romantic_. He loves lounging around Viktor’s room in his pajamas, watching vintage Earth TV shows, but he also wants to do something that requires more effort. He wants to let Viktor know that he cares.

He decides to consult with Phichit.  

 

“Phichit, I need help,” Yuuri says. He’s currently elbow deep in some Ualean mud that they’ve got stored in vats. He’s fishing for bits of algae.

“Do you need a sample bag?” Phichit asks, already reaching for one.

“Yes, actually, but that’s not what I need help with.” Yuuri bags the algae and then deposits his gloves in the sink. The bright purple mud splatters all over the basin. “I want to take Viktor out on a date.”

“Okay,” Phichit says slowly. “I don’t see why you need my help with that? He would _literally_ follow you to the end of the universe, you know that right?”

“I— it’s not— uh, he _wouldn’t_ ,” Yuuri stammers. “Anyway, I just can’t think of anywhere to take him. We’re on a ship in deep space. I wanted to take him to the lab, but—“

“But upside-down fungus isn’t romantic?” Phichit finishes. He takes the algae bag from Yuuri and grabs his elbow to lead him over to the microscopes. “I would argue that looking at mushrooms growing upside-down is _very_ romantic. It’s, like, a metaphor for the resilience of life or something.”

“Of course you’d think that,” Yuuri says with a grin. He bumps their shoulders together, lightly so Phichit doesn’t drop the glass slide he just loaded.

They work in silence for a couple minutes before Phichit speaks.

“What about that super secret garden you were working on?”

“What? Oh.” Yuuri purses his lips. “I mean, isn’t that kind of nerdy?”

“Yuuri. It’s a secret garden that you’ve carefully cultivated and tend to in your spare time. That’s, like, the definition of romance. You might as well be the wealthy-but-mysterious love interest in a Georgian era novel.”

Yuuri grins. “Do I have a tragic past? Am I rude, but irresistible? Does the protagonist fall for my dashing good looks and my surprising sensitive side?”

“You might as well change your name to Mr. Darcy.”

Yuuri laughs. He thinks about what Phichit said. Yuuri’s made this garden a secret side-project for a while now. No one’s seen it yet and it _is_ very romantic. It’s perfect.

Of course, now he actually needs to ask Viktor out.

It shouldn’t be hard. They’re already dating. Viktor has made it explicitly clear that he likes spending time with Yuuri. This is a fact that Yuuri was aware of for the years that they’d been friends before they got together. Yuuri used to ask Viktor to hang out with him all the time. He has no idea why he’s so nervous about this.

Yuuri takes the turbolift to the bridge five minutes before his and Viktor’s shift ends. As soon as the doors open, he makes a beeline for Viktor.

“Vitya.” Yuuri bounces on his heels. “It’s the end of our shift.”

“Yes,” Viktor says slowly. “It is.”

“Do you wanna––” Yuuri’s voice breaks. He clears his throat. “Uh, can you come with me, please?”

“Where are we going, love?”

Yuuri is acutely aware of everyone on the bridge staring at them.

“Just, um, come with me.”

Viktor takes his time, rising from the captain’s chair slowly.

Yuuri shuffles his feet awkwardly. “ _Vitya_ , come on.”

"What's going on, _solnyshko_?" Viktor asks. He's smiling like he’s waiting for a stripper pole to descend from the ceiling.

"I have a surprise for you," Yuuri mumbles, tugging on Viktor's sleeve. "It's in the gardens, come on."

"Oh, _Yuuri_. You're so cute," Viktor coos, letting Yuuri drag him out of the bridge and onto the turbo lift. "Are you blushing? What's the surprise?"

"I can't tell you," Yuuri huffs, flustered, "it's a _surprise_."

Viktor beams, delighted. He cups Yuuri's cheeks. "Adorable!"

Yuuri herds him down the hallways and towards his lab, where he picks up a picnic basket and his backpack. Viktor lifts the lid of the basket curiously, peeking in.

"Is that wine?" he asks. "What are you up to, _lyubov moya_?"

"I just thought we could have a walk through the gardens," Yuuri says, taking Viktor's hand. "I cooked. I bribed someone to let me into the kitchen."

"You don't have to bribe anyone. It's _our_ ship, sweetheart," Viktor chuckles. He squeezes Yuuri's hand.

"I-I know, I just thought I needed to put some effort into it," Yuuri admits. "I haven't taken you out on a date yet."

"Oh!" Viktor gasps, flushing a light pink. "This is a date? You planned a date for us?"

Yuuri nods.

Viktor lights up. He looks gorgeous under the fluorescent lab lights. "Well. Lead the way, then, _boyfriend_.”

Yuuri leans up on his tiptoes and kisses Viktor's cheek, once, twice, before he leads him out of the lab and into the actual gardens themselves.

The artificial sunlight has been dimmed to something resembling dusk, casting the gardens in soft, lush greens and dusty blues, speckled with the occasional burgundy or mustard. Viktor and Yuuri amble along, talking about everything and nothing, hand-in-hand among the roses and oak trees. Yuuri basks in the fresh, earthy smell. Everything about the gardens calms him down, from the comfortingly springy soil under his boots to the light scent of flowers in the air. After a while, Yuuri nudges them towards a small hidden path, black stones inlaid in the dirt.

"This way." Yuuri pulls Viktor along behind him, making sure he doesn't get tangled in the ivy.

"I've never been through this part before," Viktor murmurs. He looks around curiously.

"Ah, that's because I made it hard to find," Yuuri admits. "I wanted something just for myself."

"And you're sharing it with me?"

"Of course," Yuuri says, looking back over his shoulder to smile at Viktor. He's lovely, with the green tinged sunlight kissing his cheeks, the constellation of freckles on his face standing out because he's blushing. Yuuri still can't believe he's real sometimes.

"C'mon, we're almost there.”

The sunlight fades suddenly, more abrupt than it would on Earth. The light generators must be switching from day to night mode. They're just in time. "It's through here."

Yuuri holds back a curtain of vines waiting for Viktor to step through before he follows.

Yuuri hears Viktor gasp beside him.

A small clearing stretches out in front of them. At the center is a pond, dotted with lotus. A couple koi swish around lazily, flashing deep orange and red in the gaps between the lily pads. There, sitting regally at the edge of the water is Yuuri's pride and joy, a cherry blossom tree in full bloom, all the way from Japan. Earlier, Yuuri stopped by and strung up fairy lights through the cherry tree's branches. The light shines through the petals now, casting a soft pink glow over the clearing.

"Well?" Yuuri turns to look at Viktor, feeling a little nervous. He has his hands clapped over his mouth, eyes shining.

"D-Do you like it? Vitya, you haven't said anything."

"I just––” Viktor turns to face Yuuri fully. “Wow.”

“Come on, let’s sit down.” Yuuri tugs him towards a soft patch of grass at the base of the tree. He spreads out the blanket and arranges their food while Viktor continues to marvel at Yuuri’s own little Earthly corner. Yuuri thinks that he should feel self-conscious about another person being here, but he’s not. It’s just Viktor. Viktor is already in every part of Yuuri’s life, woven in seamlessly until there isn’t a slice of Yuuri that Viktor isn’t familiar with. What’s one more place?

“This is so romantic!” Viktor giggles, his cheeks dusted with pink. Yuuri is so smitten.

“That was the point, dear.”

“Ah, just when I was thinking _I_ was the sappy one in this relationship.” Viktor plops himself down on the blanket, reaching for an anpan. “This place is incredible. I can’t believe you did all this by yourself.”

“It wasn’t all me. I had a few droids help me out.”

“But you planned everything, yes? Where to plant things and which types of fertilizers to use? I have no idea how you did this and still managed to keep on top of your research and other duties.”

“It was a labor of love,” Yuuri says, leaning back on his hands so he can look up at the tree. “My favorite season on Earth is spring. I love seeing the blossoms. It made everything so… magical.”

“I bet.” Viktor shuffles over until their shoulders are pressed together, warm through their uniforms. “Is it like this in Japan? I feel like if I couldn’t tell the difference between this and Earth, if I hadn’t walked here myself.”

“Hmm, no. I tried my best but it’s still slightly different.”

Viktor makes a curious noise.

“It’s in the little things,” Yuuri says, gesturing towards the ground. “This grass, for example. It’s not a variety typically found in Japan. And this tree is genetically modified to always be blooming, even in the middle of winter. Oh, and those ferns over there? They’ve been extinct since the nineteenth century. We only recently reconstructed some DNA in a lab, Jurassic Park style.”

“Jurassic Park?”

“It’s an old Earth movie. Well, it’s a book, but––” Yuuri shakes his head, smiling ruefully. “Oh, no, I’m rambling again. Sorry, I know it’s dumb.”

“It’s not dumb,” Viktor says firmly. He places a hand on top of Yuuri’s. “I like listening to you talk about things you’re passionate about, love. You get this light in your eyes and you make the cutest hand gestures. I love that about you.”

“You love that about me?”

“I do.” Viktor smiles. He opens his mouth to say something else, but decides against it. Instead he says, “Besides, you let me talk your ear off about my Tellarite soap operas.”

Yuuri ducks his head, grinning. “I still have no idea why you watch those.”

“I need to find out who pushed Xena down the stairs,” Viktor says. “She broke three of her arms. I’m betting it’s Marpa. He has two faces. _Literally._ ”

Yuuri laughs. He melts into a comfortable conversation with Viktor. It’s so easy for Yuuri to remember why they’ve been friends for so long. For most people, with the exception of his family and Phichit, Yuuri feels like navigating social situations is the equivalent of stepping out of a ship without a spacesuit on.

He doesn’t feel like that with Viktor. With Viktor, Yuuri can just take a step out and breathe.

 

 

 

03.

Yuuri comes back from his landing mission on Clilles 50U feeling worn down, but satisfied. It was a very productive mission, with minimal setbacks and almost zero intercrew drama.

(Yuuri learned long ago that pairing Georgi with anyone but Seung-Gil is a recipe for disaster. Georgi is a brilliant chemist, but he’s also very emotional. Yuuri thanks his lucky stars that Seung-Gil somehow manages to keep him in check.)

Yuuri usually loves long missions, but this time he’s happy that they managed to come back aboard the Enterprise early. Viktor, for some reason, decided to sit this mission out, even though he usually begs Yuuri to be put on the landing party. Yuuri missed him a lot.

Which is why he’s happy to find Viktor waiting for him outside his and Phichit’s rooms.

“Vitya, what are you doing here?” Yuuri whispers. He greets him with a peck on the lips, running his hand affectionately through Viktor’s hair.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Viktor mumbles, falling into Yuuri’s arms. “Missed you.”

Yuuri struggles not to smile at that, a weird mix of fondness and exasperation bubbling up in his chest. “It was only a couple days.”

“Five days,” Viktor says into Yuuri’s neck. “‘S practically an eternity.”

Yuuri considers the fact that his captain, the great love of his life, Viktor Nikiforov, is currently draped over Yuuri, clutching his sides greedily and trying his very best to fall asleep upright. He thinks that it would be cruel to send him back to his room.

And Yuuri missed him. A lot.

“Okay,” Yuuri opens the door with a sigh, “okay, okay. You can sleep here, just––”

“Yay!”

“–– be _quiet_ ,” Yuuri hisses. He shifts them so he can walk Viktor backward down the hall, through his shared living room, and towards his room. “I don’t wanna wake up Phichit.”

Viktor tries to nod, except his face is still jammed into the spot where Yuuri’s neck meets his shoulder, so he ends up just nosing along Yuuri’s collarbone. It’s cute.

Viktor is cute.

(It’s not exactly a life changing revelation. Yuuri has known that Viktor is cute since he was a wide-eyed freshman at Starfleet Academy. But still. Viktor is cute.)

Yuuri smiles, giving in and pressing a light his to the crown of Viktor’s head. His hair is so fluffy.

Yuuri gently nudges Viktor all the way down the hallway and into his room, silently passing Phichit’s room. He only finished his medical check up thirty minutes before Yuuri, but he’s probably already fast asleep.

Once they’re inside Yuuri’s room, Viktor wastes no time in tackling Yuuri onto the bed and wrapping the both of them in the comforter, rolling so he’s resting on Yuuri’s chest.

“Hello there,” Yuuri says. Their faces are so close that Yuuri goes cross-eyed trying to look at Viktor.

Viktor grins down at him. “Hey.”

“Where did all that energy come from? I thought you were tired.”

“I was,” Viktor replies easily. “But seeing you again recharged me.” He gives Yuuri a quick peck on the lips.

“I–– that’s––” Yuuri says. “Um.”

“I missed you,” Viktor says again. He snuggles impossibly closer.

“I missed you, too, but Vitya. It was only five days.”

“Five days is a long time!”

Yuuri chuckles. He wriggles an arm free of the blanket and brings it up to play with Viktor’s hair. They spend a couple minutes basking in each others’ presence, alternating between trading lazy kisses and just looking at each other. It’s sappy and embarrassing and Yuuri loves every minute of it. He feels a bit ridiculous, being so clingy after only five days apart, but Viktor is being just as clingy so it can’t really be a problem, can it?

“Let me come with you next time,” VIktor says, breaking the silence.

Yuuri raises an eyebrow. “You know, you _are_ the captain. You can technically do whatever you want.”

“No, no. These missions are your thing. You’re in charge and I’m not going to force my way onto a mission if you don’t want me there.”

“Is that why you didn’t come with us this time?” Yuuri frowns. “I was wondering why you didn’t insist on coming. You usually whine until I clear a seat for you.”

Viktor smiles sheepishly. “Ah, yeah. I just thought maybe you’d want some space. I know I can be a bit…”

“Extra,” Yuuri supplies.

“Yes, extra,” Viktor chuckles. “You can just tell me if you need me to back up a little. I don’t want to be too much.”

Yuuri feels something in his chest melt. “Oh, Vitya. You’re never too much for me. I’d love it if you came with us next time.”

“Okay, good. I couldn’t stop worrying, _solnyshko_. All I could think about was the Arcadian Wolf Incident.”

Yuuri groans. “You _always_ bring up the Arcadian Wolf Incident.”

“For good reason!” Viktor counters, insistent.

“It wasn’t a big deal!”

“Yuuri, you tried to pet a wild Arcadian wolf. You could have lost an arm!”

“It was _one time_ and you know how I am around dogs! Are you ever going to let it go?”

“Never,” Viktor replies. “You need me on missions with you. To make sure you don’t try to adopt wild animals.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yuuri grumbles.

 

On their next mission, Yuuri makes sure to include Viktor on the landing party.

Viktor’s accompanied them on many missions in the past, but never as Yuuri’s official assistant. It feels weird filling out the mission file like that. Yuuri usually marks him down under ‘back up pilot.’ He wonders if the people over at Starfleet's documents department will be able to tell they’re dating just from the paperwork on this mission.

That’s ridiculous. Yuuri knows it’s ridiculous. That doesn’t stop him from feeling giddy at the thought of his and Viktor's relationship down on official paper.

The mission goes well. Yuuri tries to keep Viktor informed, but after a while he starts looking lost. It's not his fault at all; at the start of the expedition Viktor was following along and asks Yuuri a lot of intelligent questions. The problem is with Yuuri. It's just–– he loves science a lot. And he gets very excited when he's allowed to ramble on about carbon levels in the soil or the chemical structure of water. He talks quickly and switches between subjects faster than a pod racer switching lanes to avoid a herd of Andirian gazelles. People tend to go glass-eyed when Yuuri really starts going. To his credit, Viktor lasts longer than anyone else, but after a while––

Viktor essentially becomes a walking sample bag.

He dotes constantly. If Yuuri shows even the slightest bit that he's struggling to lift something or needs something handed to him, Viktor trips over himself trying to help him. It's adorable and Yuuri loves him for it.

“Vitya,” Yuuri calls, “could you hold this for me?”

“Anything for you, _solnyshko_ ,” Viktor says with frightening sincerity. “I’d knock out the stars one by one if you asked me to. I’d take on an entire fleet of Klingon ships. I’d––”

“Okay, calm down, Romeo,” Yuri grumbles. “He’s literally just asking you to hold a bag of bird shit.”

"Why are you here, again?" Viktor asks, cradling the bag of bird shit like it's the finest gold. Yuuri shakes his head and goes back to scraping the rock for samples.

"I'm here because Katsudon isn't allowed to go off on missions without at least one security officer with him," Yuri says. "And lucky for you, I was assigned to babysit today."

"I'm older than you _and_ I outrank you," Yuuri mutters. He means to protest about the 'babysitting' more, but then he gets distracted by some interesting sediment patterns in the rock.

"When did this rule happen and why did I not know about it?" Viktor asks.

"Last mission,  when he–– you know." Yuri makes a face.

"When he...?"

"You know," Yuri says again, waving a hand in the air, "threw himself out of a moving vehicle to collect some rare plant sample that he saw. He almost impaled himself on a fallen tree branch."

" _He what?_ "

Oh no. Yuuri's in trouble. He puts down his rock hammer.

 

Yuuri does not have the best track record when it comes to safety during missions.

Of course, he's a stickler for rules. He gives the mission briefing every time and makes sure to remind everyone of the rules and regulations to follow before they even leave the Enterprise. A landing party should be well-informed, hard working, and, above all else, cautious.

That doesn't stop Yuuri from literally flinging himself into the arms of danger every mission.

("It's for science," Yuuri protests when Phichit practically handcuffs himself to Yuuri after Yuuri tried to swim into the middle of a lake.

"Yuuri, you _know_ I would sacrifice anything for the good of science," Phichit replies, tightening the cuffs, "but I will not let you dissolve yourself in an acid lake because you saw an interesting flower on the other side of the shore.")

In Yuuri's opinion, he's never "risked his life for some stupid plant." Minako taught him twenty-seven different fighting styles for a reason. She also taught him how to start fires and rock climb and identify poisonous plants. It would be a waste if Yuuri didn't use his skills, wouldn't it? At least, that's what he told himself when he's hanging upside down off a tree branch, trying to reach a fruit so he can take it back to the lab. There were a lot of sharp rocks below him, but that didn't matter. Minako taught him a lot about climbing and weight distribution and Yuuri refused to die via sharp rocks.

In Yuuri's opinion, the rest of the crew blows things out of proportion. That time that Yuuri punched a bear? He didn't really punch it. It was more like a gentle tap and a request to collect its berries somewhere else because, well, Yuuri was collecting those berries for science. The bear was perfectly civil and only roared a little bit before it left, ambling away on its six furry legs.

And, okay, yes Yuuri did technically vault over a chasm in Taenia but that was for a good cause. Jim was cornered by some worgs and Yuuri wasn't going to leave his best geologist to fight them off alone.

The point is, Yuuri isn't reckless. He's very calculated in his risk-taking. And he really doesn't think he deserves to be attacked like this.

 

"Yuuri!" Viktor whirls around to face Yuuri. Viktor drops to his knees near where Yuuri is squatting in front of the cliff face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't a big deal," Yuuri says, avoiding Viktor's eye. "I didn't get hurt so I didn't think there was any point in worrying you."

Yuri snorts. Viktor seethes.

"You are _always_ like this," he complains. Yuuri places a gloved hand on Viktor's EVA suit in what he hopes is a comforting gesture.

"I'll be more careful next time," Yuuri promises.

"No, you won't," Yuri butts in. "Katsudon, you are the worst liar."

"You say you’ll be careful every time," Viktor whines. Yuuri sighs heavily and goes back to scraping the minerals into a bag. He'll take them back to Jim so he can analyze their chemical composition later.

"Impaling aside," Yuuri says, "the plant I collected is super interesting. I named her Gertrude. Her flower spits poison, which is fascinating because––"

"Poison!" Viktor exclaims. "You jumped out of a moving land rover to collect a plant that _spits_ _poison!_ "

"It was for science," Yuuri protests weakly.

Viktor and Yuri exchange a look. They roll their eyes.

(Yuri accompanies them on the next mission. And the next. He claims he has bad luck with mission assignments, but he forgets that Yuuri is the one who processes his mission request forms.)

 

Their next landing mission is only a week later, on a small planet orbiting quietly in between two larger planets. The file name is T-4C0, and Phichit soon nicknames it Taco. It’s the latest edition on the “Phichit’s bad nicknames for planets” board that they have hanging up in the lab breakroom.

An incomplete list of things Yuuri Katsuki has learned on their first day on Taco:

  1. The planet has a variety of different biomes, ranging from jungles with towering, waxy trees, to vast deserts made of glass sand.
  2. Human-Steve and Vulcan-Steve refuse to partner up with anyone else on away missions. Yuuri will have to keep that in mind for when he reassigns shift times next week.
  3. The waterlily-like plants on Taco are not like Earth waterlilies. They’re carnivorous.



Yuuri learns this because he almost loses an entire arm to one.

The Taconian waterlilies are significantly larger than the waterlilies on Earth. A single blossom is the size of a large dog. The leafy pads are thicker than Yuuri’s old calculus textbook and large enough to comfortably hold a hovercar. He and Phichit spend a lot of time looking at them, Phichit dutifully snapping pictures for the report later and Yuuri taking notes on his datapad. Yuuri squats by the edge a vast lake, squinting at a nearby waterlily.

“I think those are trigger hairs,” Yuuri says, studying the thin, long fibers situated in the center of the blossom. “Like the kind venus fly traps have?”

“You mean, you think this thing will close up like a venus fly trap if we touch the trigger hairs?” Phichit studies the flower. “Let’s find out!”

So, like the sophisticated and reputable scientists they are, they decide to poke it with a stick.

“It’s not closing up,” Yuuri notes with a frown.

“Maybe if I poke it from another angle?” Phichit continues to prod at the flower gently, experimenting with different angles.

“What if,” Yuuri says slowly, “it can feel body heat?”

Phichit stops poking, withdrawing his stick. He places it back on the ground, watching Yuuri carefully. “Whatever you’re about to do––”

Yuuri reaches out and touches the flower.

It snaps shut instantly, closing in and twisting together in an inescapable prison. Yuuri yanks back his hand in the nick of time. Through the slightly translucent petals he can see the flowery chamber filling up with digestive acids.

“Woah,” he murmurs, shifting closer to get a better look.

“Okay, that was really cool, but _oh my god_ ,” Phichit squeaks. He hurries over and holds Yuuri’s hand. “You scared the hell out of me!”

“Sorry, but we didn’t have anything else.” Yuuri looks around at their equipment. “Where’s the camera? We should get that on tape.”

“You are _never_ doing that again,” Phichit says sternly.

Yuuri rolls his eyes. “ _I_ wasn’t going to do it again. I was going to set up a camera to see if maybe one of those lizard things we saw wanders into a flower once we leave. I think we’re scaring them off.”

“ _Yuuri,_ ” Phichit says, exasperated. “You could have lost a hand. You’re being really nonchalant about that.”

“I would have been fine.” Yuuri wiggles his fingers. “I’m wearing gloves.”

“Okay, but _still_.”

Yuuri grins. “Sorry. But we discovered a really cool thing.”

Phichit smacks his arm lightly, but grins back. “Come on, we better take notes. Remember, the only difference between science and messing around––”

“–– is writing it down,” they say together.

 

After their mission on T-4C0, Seung-Gil summons Yuuri for his usual post-mission med eval before Yuuri’s done tagging all the samples. He sounded a little agitated over the comm, so Yuuri decides that instead of stopping by his room to change, he’ll just go as is.

Which is why he walks into the medbay sporting a full body lab coat.

“Sexy,” Viktor says.

Seung-gil’s eye twitches. “Captain. Please, leave.”

“But you’re not done with _my_ med eval!”

Seung-Gil shoots Yuuri a glare, silently pleading with his eyes. Yuuri takes pity on the poor man.

“Vitya, I think Chris said something about another dog asteroid up on the bridge.”

Viktor’s out the door like a shot.

Seung-Gil turns his disapproving gaze to Yuuri. “You couldn’t have changed before you got here?”

“I was in the lab when you called and you sounded annoyed,” Yuuri answers.

“That’s just the way my voice sounds,” Seung-Gil replies. There’s a small twitch at the corner of his mouth that lets Yuuri know he’s teasing. It had taken a while for Yuuri to realize it, but he and Seung-Gil are friends. The two of them meet in Sara and Mila’s cabin every two weeks to play Dungeons and Dark Matter.

Seung-Gil turns away from Yuuri to mess around with the holoscreen attached to the wall. The light from the screen reflects off the shiny rainbow scales on his neck, glittering like a technicolor discoball. It’s a nice contrast to the sterile white walls, white beds, white lab coats of the med bay.

“Minimal injuries this time,” Seung-Gil mutters, swiping through Yuuri’s biometrics, “so, good job on that. You reported a slight pain in your left leg, two hours into the mission?”

“It was nothing,” Yuuri says. “I just pulled a muscle.”

Seung-Gil shoots him a look over his shoulder. “If I find out you pulled a muscle backflipping off a rover, I’m grounding you on the next mission.”

“I can’t even do a backflip,” Yuuri protests. Seung-Gil hums noncommittally.

“Alright, everything seems to be––” Seung-Gil turns around and faces Yuuri fully, eyes suddenly focused on his face.

“What’s that?”

“What?” Yuuri asks. He had just taken the lab coat mask off.

“That’s a cut. You have a cut on your cheek.”

“What––? Oh! Oh yeah. It’s just a scratch––”

“It could be infected.” Seung-Gil narrows his eyes. “You didn’t report a scratch.”

“It was stupid,” Yuuri mutters. “I took my mask off for a second and then walked into a tree branch.”

Seung-Gil’s lip twitches again and Yuuri _knows_ that he’s laughing at him. “Are you sure you didn’t get it doing something reckless and irresponsible? You have a history of doing reckless and irresponsible things while on away missions.”

“Seung-Gil,” Yuuri whines.

“Yuuri,” Seung-Gil sighs, “you know I can’t treat you as easily as the rest of the crew. Non-engineered medicine is expensive and hard to get. If you die, who will take care of my dog? Who will sign my paychecks?”

“Viktor,” Yuuri says, wincing as Seung-Gil dabs antiseptic to the cut on his cheek. “He signs your paychecks _now._ ”

“Yes, but I would trust a child before I trusted Viktor with Queen Seondeok,” Seung-Gil says. “She would eat him alive.”

Yuuri thinks about Queen Seondeok’s many beautiful, razor sharp teeth. Okay, Seung-Gil has a point.

Seung-Gil spends an entire _hour_ slathering the small cut on Yuuri’s cheek with different, sharp smelling medical salves. It’s entirely unnecessary. Yuuri points this out twenty minutes in but Seung-Gil ignores him in favor of applying a neon green cream that smells like rubbing alcohol and pureed medical students.

By the time Yuuri leaves the med bay, he’s had three lectures on mission safety and one on strategies for their next game of Dungeons and Dark Matter. Seung-Gil takes D&D very seriously. Yuuri’s also sporting a light blue bandage on his cheek. It has little cartoon robots on it.

Yuuri makes a quick stop at his room to change into comfortable clothes before he goes to see Viktor.

The first thing Viktor did when Yuuri signed on as first officer was give Yuuri automatic security clearance to the entire ship, including the captain’s quarters. Yuuri presses his palm against the scanner outside Viktor’s cabin and smiles a little when the screen greets him with an electronic “Hello, Commander Katsuki.”

“Vitya,” Yuuri calls out. He kicks off his shoes and shuffles further into Viktor’s rooms, poking his head into the kitchen, searching for his boyfriend. “Viktor?”

“In here!”

Yuuri wanders into the living room and finds Viktor sprawled out on the couch, a book in hand.

“Hey.” Viktor smiles at him shyly, reading glasses perched on his nose. Yuuri finds this adorable.

“Hi.” Yuuri pads over and takes Viktor’s glasses off, dropping a light kiss on his nose. “What are you reading?”

“It’s a theory on why almost every planet has crab-like creatures. Apparently, it’s a very nice shape to evolve into.”

“Interesting?” Yuuri tucks himself into Viktor’s side, sinking into the couch cushions with a relieved sigh. Viktor really does have all the best furniture in his cabin. It’s unfair.

Viktor hums noncommittally. He watches on in amusement as Yuuri cuddles up to him like an overgrown housecat. Once Yuuri’s settled, he brings a hand up to trace at the edges of the robot bandaid.

“I know Seung-Gil probably already lectured you--”

“Many, _many_ times,” Yuuri mutters.

“--but I’m going to lecture you again. You need to be more careful.”

“I _am_ careful,” Yuuri huffs. “Getting hurt is just part of the job. It’s not like I’ve had a major injury, and look at all the great research we’re doing! What’s science without the risk taking?”

“I just want you to be safe,” Viktor murmurs. He cradles one of Yuuri’s hands between both of his own like it’s something precious, like it’s made of stardust and moonstone. “I know you’re not fragile. And I know that out of everyone, you’re the most capable of taking care of yourself, it’s just that––I worry, Yuuri.”

Viktor brings Yuuri’s hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss against his knuckles.

“I lo-- I care about you an awful lot,” Viktor says, not breaking eye contact. His eyes burn into Yuuri’s, bluer than a copper chloride flame. “I can’t go on every mission with you, as much as I’d like to. I just want to be sure that every time you leave for a mission, you’ll come back to me in one piece.”

For a moment, Yuuri just looks up at him, overcome with emotion.

“I’ll take care of myself,” Yuuri promises.

 

 

 

04.

Viktor loves being the captain of a starship.

All the years of hard work and tears were worth it. The months away from his mom, away from Yuuri and his friends, floating in the darkness of space and shadowing older captains, all of it was worth it. He loves sitting in his chair on the bridge and watching Zaira and Chris fly them through the stars. He loves his ship, all sleek metal and chrome glory. He loves his crew more than anything in the entire cosmos. They’re his family, even through all the bickering and betting pools and smuggled Andorian candy.

There are a lot of things that Viktor loves about Starfleet. The political side is not one of them.

He knows he can get petulant and whiny about it, but he _hates_ board meetings. It’s the twenty-second century! Why can’t they have these meetings through holovideo call? Even _e-mail_ would be more efficient at this point.

So, Viktor leaves his ship for an entire week to mingle with his fellow captains and dodge jabs at his age and his leadership methods.

(Yuuri usually combats with this by bringing up statistics from the employee health and wellness survey. There’s a reason the Enterprise has more officer applicants than any other starship.)

Yuuri. Viktor misses Yuuri. It’s been a long week, but thankfully it’s almost done. He’s just heading home from the last meeting, making his way down the steel paved streets of Seshat’s capital city, when he hears a noise coming from an alleyway.

It’s a low, wounded whimper coming from behind a waste incinerator.

“Hello?” Viktor calls out cautiously. He creeps forward, one hand on his phaser, just in case. “Is anyone there?”

The whimpering grows louder. Viktor rounds the corner and––

In front of him is the _cutest_ poodle that Viktor has ever seen. She’s on the smaller side, with light brown curls and the floppiest ears on this side of the galaxy. She’s huddled back behind the incinerator, pressed close to the metal for warmth. At the sound of Viktor’s voice she perks up.

“Hello, there,” Viktor murmurs in Russian. “Hey, beautiful. What are you doing here all by yourself?”

Viktor lowers himself so he’s kneeling at her level, holding a hand out to her.

“Hey, baby,” Viktor coos. He approaches slowly, until he’s petting her fuzzy snout. She tilts her head and opens her mouth the bark, but nothing comes out. Instead, there’s a harsh whine, like air being forced through a small hole, almost like a whistle. The poodle closes her mouth and shivers, as if making the noise caused her pain.

“Shh, it’s alright.” Viktor frowns, looking down at the dog.

The poodle doesn’t look like a stray. She’s well groomed and looks to be well fed. She responded well to Viktor which means her owners are probably either human or Siren, or like Viktor, both. But, she’s also out here all by herself. Seshat’s cold seasons are brutal and the doggy vest she’s wearing doesn’t provide much insulation.

“Are you lost? Is that it?” Maybe her owners live nearby? But, seeing a dog, a traditional Earth breed at that, this far from the Alpha quadrant is rare.

The poodle pushes her face into Viktor’s palm. Viktor’s heart melts.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you somewhere warm. There has to be an animal center around here.” Viktor starts to pick her up.

The poodle immediately lets out more distressed whining noises. Viktor lets go, holding his hands up. Now that he looks closer, there seems to be something wrong with her leg.

“I’m sorry, little one,” he says softly. This isn’t good. She’s been out in the cold, hurt, for who knows how long. Viktor runs his hands up and down her sides to soothe her. He’ll have to try picking her up again. There’s no way she can move that leg on her own.

Wait.

What was that?

Viktor looks down at where his hands had found a snag in the fabric of the dog’s vest. He wiggles his fingers a little, widening the opening. Inside he can feel a piece of paper. He pulls it out, and uses his tricorder’s Universal Translator to decipher it.

“ _We loved you so much, unit 1329_ ,” the translator reads out loud. “ _We’re so sorry. If someone has found you, let them know you were loved._ ”

On the back of the note is a bunch of the dog’s medical information, as well as instructions for care. They have details down to her favorite brand of freeze dried dog treats. Whoever they were, they knew this dog very well. They wanted her to be cared for.

They were probably not coming back.

“I’m sorry,” Viktor says again. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

The dog blinks up at Viktor, obviously still in pain, but cheerful through it. Her tail thumps against the waste incinerator optimistically.

 

Viktor gets himself and the dog back on the Enterprise within the hour. Once they’re aboard, he surrenders the dog over to Seung-Gil.

“Dammit, Viktor,” Seung-Gil sighs, “I’m a doctor, not a veterinarian.”

“I know you have a degree in domesticated animal care. I _did_ read your file before we hired you,” Viktor reminds him. “Besides, you love dogs.”

“Whatever Katsuki told you is a lie,” Seung-Gil says, but he’s already hooking the poodle up to a health monitor, rapidly swiping through data pads and inputting the information from the scrap of paper. Viktor hovers at the dog’s bedside. The poodle nudges at his hand, demanding pets which Viktor happily supplies. Seung-Gil sneaks her some dog treats when he thinks Viktor isn’t looking.

A couple hours later, Seung-Gil’s tests and diagnosis is done. Yuuri and Sara have joined Viktor in the medbay. They talk to each other quietly while they wait for Seung-Gil to finish up.

“Well?” Viktor asks, after Seung-Gil has finished logging the last bit of information.

“I’m not going to lie,” Seung-Gil says. “This dog is very sick.”

Viktor frowns.

“How?”

“She needs leg prosthetics and a voice box. Those are the two big ones, but she has some infections that would require a lot of treatment and….”

“And?”

Seung-Gil sighs heavily, looking drained. “Frankly, it would be expensive. I don’t know where the money would come from. For some of the things we need, we’d have to stop at an interplanetary system pharmacy. That’s not even considering what we’d need to get her prosthetics and an electronic voice box.”

“The voice box is the hard part,” Sara adds in. “I can engineer almost anything to work as legs. For now, we’ll give her a wheelchair while I try to figure out what to do about the nerve endings and such.”

“Captain,” Seung-Gil says slowly, “I’m not sure all these procedures would be––”

“It’s okay,” Viktor says quickly. “I understand.”

He looks down mournfully at the dog. The best they can do for her is to drop her off at the nearest planet with a functioning animal hospital. Viktor aches.

It’s just–– well, he’s always wanted a dog. He’s loved poodles since Yakov showed him an Earth movie where the main character had a dark brown toy poodle. Viktor also has a habit of picking up strays, as seen in his choice of crew members. It just seemed like fate, to stumble upon a poodle who needed his help so badly. What’s the point of commanding a starship if you can’t even better one tiny dog’s life?

“Alright,” Viktor says heavily, “let’s––”

“Let’s do it,” Yuuri interrupts.

Viktor’s gaze snaps to him. He’d been quiet the entire time, and Viktor had misinterpreted it as heartache on behalf of the dog.

“What?”

“We’re adopting this dog, Vitya.”

“But––”

“I’ll take care of it,” Yuuri says. “I’ll take care of everything. Seung-Gil, Sara, can you both get me complete lists of what we’ll need? I’ll clear your schedules for the rest of the day.”

They both nod and exit the exam room, immediately falling into a familiar, fast-paced back-and-forth. The doorport shuts behind them with a soft hiss.

“Yuuri,” Viktor says.

Yuuri ignores him. He pets the poodle on her side, smiling softly when she acknowledges him.

“Yuuri,” Viktor tries again. “You’re letting me keep the dog.”

“I think I said _we_ were adopting her, didn’t I?” Yuuri says. He tucks his chin down against his collarbone, the way he does when he’s feeling a little embarrassed.

“You’re letting us keep her, even though it’s a strain on ship resources,” Viktor continues. “You are _obsessed_ with monitoring our resources. You wouldn’t give me an extra toothpaste canister last week.”

“You shouldn’t have used the entire thing to write me a love letter on the bathroom mirror,” Yuuri mutters, eyes still glued to the poodle. “Besides, it wouldn’t come out of the ship’s budget.”

Viktor stares. “You’re using your own money? You’d do that?”

“You love this dog, Vitya.”

“You’d do this, just because I want to keep the poodle?”

Yuuri rolls his eyes at him, as if the answer was obvious. “You’re lucky I lo–– uh,  _like_ you so much.”

Viktor’s heart jumps a little at Yuuri’s small slip. He grins, filled to the brim with affection.

“Careful, Commander Katsuki,” Viktor teases, relishing in the light flush on Yuuri’s face, “your favoritism is showing. First, you let me adopt a dog—what’s next? You give me longer break times? Power really does corrupt.”

“You’re the captain! You’re the one in charge, technically!”

Yuuri is so cute when he’s embarrassed. He gets all flustered and prickly, it’s absolutely adorable. Viktor sweeps Yuuri into his arms, picking him up off the ground and swinging him in a low circle.

“Vitya!” Yuuri squawks. “Vitya, put me down!”

“You’re letting me adopt a dog!” Viktor cheers.

“Vi––” Yuuri tries to be stern but he ruins it by laughing. “Vitya, please! You know I’d do anything for you. I also love dogs.”

Viktor places Yuuri back down and buries his face in his hair, love drunk. “I know, but you said it would difficult and––”

“Don’t worry about it,” Yuuri says, again. “I’ll take care of everything.”

Viktor makes a noise of protest. “If the parts for her legs are too expensive, I’ll pay––”

“I _said_ ,” Yuuri says again, “I’ll take care of everything.”

Viktor holds Yuuri tighter. He really does have the best boyfriend in the galaxy.

 

It’s a week before Viktor gets to see the poodle.

Yuuri told him that the entire engineering department has been itching for a new project, since they shut down the robot fighting ring a couple months ago.

(He still doesn’t know where that escaped roomba disappeared off to. He’s mildly concerned, considering it has a knife strapped to it and bloodlust programed into its system, but it’s only about ankle height so he figures it’s fine.

He always wears extra thick socks at all times, just in case)

The engineering officers, with Sara at the head, have apparently decided that the poodle is their new project. Yuuri says that they’ve got boards and boards filled with new designs for prosthetic doggy legs and doggy voice boxes. No one outside of engineering, except for Yuuri, is allowed down in their planning rooms.

Everyone loves Yuuri. Viktor would think it’s unfair, but he also completely understands why.

Viktor has been worried sick. He trusts Sara and Seung-Gil, be he also doesn’t put it past them to add a rocket launcher onto the dog because they think it would be cool. Viktor throws himself into his work to avoid thinking about it. He even does most of his paperwork. He’s even doing paperwork when they call him down to the medbay.

“Captain,” Sara greets him at the door. “Seung-Gil just left to go get Queen Seondeok. Apparently, she’s adopted the poodle as her own now.”

“And where is she?” Viktor asks, trying not to seem too excited. From the look in Sara’s eye, he doesn’t succeed.

“Over here.”

Sara leads him through the maze of treatment rooms and back towards the prosthetic maintenance office.

“Uh, fair warning,” Sara says, pausing before she opens the door, “she’s a little hyper. We gave her snacks so she would sit still for all the injections.”

Viktor bounces on his heels, vibrating with anticipation, as the door glides open.

“Boof!”

Viktor follows the electronic sounding bark and finds the poodle sitting in the center of the room, sitting with her back straight and a dopey, doggy smile on her face. She has new, gleaming metal legs and a collar that attaches to a small voice box. She’s the most precious creature in the entire galaxy.

“Oh, quiznak,” Viktor breathes out. “Hey, there girl. Remember me?”

Viktor lowers himself down to the floor and runs his fingers through her fur, gently rubbing the places where metal meets skin. He leans in close to inspect her voice box–– bark box?–– and she takes the opportunity to lick a large, slobbery kiss up Viktor’s cheek.

“Hey!” he laughs, absolutely delighted. Sara walks over to stand behind him.

“These legs are amazing,” Viktor says. “You did this in a week?”

“Well, Yuuri gave me and a small team the week off, so we could work on them,” Sara says. “Mickey is standing in as acting Chief of Engineering, so I’ve had a lot of time.”

“Ah, yes. I did the paperwork approving that! Seung-Gil took leave too.”

“Yup,” Sara says, popping the ‘p.’ “For the first time since the beginning of his contract. He and I were looking over those legs for hours.”

“They’re amazing,” Viktor compliments again. “Really.”

Sara hums, a devious smirk on her face. “Notice anything about them?”

Viktor makes a curious noise, tiling his head to the side. Nothing in particular stood out. He looks closer.

Now that he thinks about it, the silver and purple accents on the poodle’s new legs and bark box are familiar. Viktor looks closely at the patterns, the markings along the thigh and symbols running along the new collar. The metal is freshly polished, but it looks old. There are a few scratches that couldn’t be sanded down, a few burn marks that still show through under the new paint. It’s almost as if––

Suddenly, it clicks.

Viktor whips his head up and stares at Sara. “Is this…?”

“Makkachin,” Sara confirms. “Turns out the scraps were useful after all.”

Viktor is going to cry. He’s actually going to cry.

“It was Yuuri’s idea,” Sara continues. “The metal was the perfect. Strong enough to be able to support the dog’s body but light enough that it wouldn’t damage her hips. Plus, the color scheme is pretty sick.”

“They’re Siren Planetary Guard and Space Fleet colors,” Viktor mumbles, in awe. “Specifically, my mom’s squadron.”

“I know.”

Viktor turns around, still kneeling on the ground with his arms wrapped around the poodle, and sees Yuuri standing in the doorway. The poodle yips happily at the sound of Yuuri’s voice. Her tail thumps against the floor in excitement, mirroring the heavy thud of Viktor’s own heart.

Viktor vaguely registers Sara leaving the room.

Yuuri saunters over and sits down next the Viktor. “Well?”

Viktor finally looks away from Yuuri and back at the adorable poodle bundled in his arms. “She’s beautiful.”

“What are you going to name her?”

Viktor gives Yuuri a look. “Uh, Makkachin. Duh.”

“Ah. Right, right,” Yuuri says sheepishly. He leans over Viktor and gives Makkachin an affectionate pat. “Hello, Makkachin. Welcome to the family!”

Makkachin woofs. It’s soft and slightly robotic and _perfect_.

 

Makkachin, as it turns out, used to be a landing party dog.

Their first clue is the vest she was wearing when Viktor found her and the note that was tucked inside. It had a serial number and a company name embroidered on it. Viktor did some research and figured out that the company was a galactic real estate company, the kind that would send out parties to discover new planets to colonize. They went bankrupt a couple years ago. Makkachin was probably hurt on a mission and left in the alleyway once the team realized they couldn’t keep her.

The second clue is the way she behaves in Yuuri’s lab. Unlike Seung-Gil’s killer monster dog or Chris’s weird void cat, Makkachin hates staying in the pet center. She gets restless and whines until one of the crewmembers takes her either to Viktor or Yuuri. It’s usually Yuuri, since there isn’t much room for dogs on the bridge.  

Makkachin knows her way around a lab.

“I think it’s because she used to help out her old owners when they did their tests,” Yuuri theorizes. “I mean, they probably had to do, like, acidity tests and soil composition checks to make sure the planet was safe to build homes on. I asked Phichit to hand me a beaker today and _Makka_ brought it to me.”

Viktor gasps. “That’s adorable!”

“Right?!”

Their final clue comes when Viktor and Yuuri leave for their first landing mission since they adopted her.

It’s a small, check-up mission to a planet that’s already been explored by Starfleet. They’re job is just to do maintenance on the data collecting devices left by the old team. They’re only gone for a day.

A day is, apparently, too long for Makkachin.

She launches herself at Yuuri once they land, sending him directly into Viktor’s arms. The three of them go down in a puddle of relieved poodle whimpers and surprised Starfleet officer yelps.

“Makka!” Yuuri shouts. He’s sandwiched in between Viktor and Makkachin, which in Viktor’s opinion, is the best place to be.

Viktor laughs. “She missed us!”

“Your dog is a menace,” Seung-Gil says. Viktor somehow manages to tear his eyes away from Yuuri and Makkachin to see him standing by the entrance to the hangar, Queen Seondeok sitting loyally by his feet.

“She’s a delight,” Yuuri shoots back. He has both his hands buried in Makkachin’s fur.

“She was inconsolable while you were gone,” Seung-Gil tells them. “As soon as you left she started whining and she hasn’t stopped since. I tried everything, I even brought her to Yuuri’s lab, but she wouldn’t stop running around and barking. She kept sneaking down here and scratching at the hangar doors, nudging me towards cargo ships like she wanted me to hijack one of them and go get you two. Even Queen Seondeok couldn’t calm her down. It was a nightmare.”

Viktor raises an eyebrow. “Is that true?”

“Yes, it was––”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Viktor says, “I was talking to Makkachin. Makka, did you miss us that much?”

Makkachin woofs. In the background, Seung-Gil fumes.

“Well, if that’s all,” he says, miffed.  

“Thank you for watching after our baby,” Yuuri says diplomatically. Seung-Gil’s expression doesn’t change, but he doesn’t threaten to quit again, which means he’s probably not too mad.

The rest of the landing party begin to fill out, giving Yuuri, Viktor, and Makkachin a wide berth.

“Thank you for waiting for us, Makka,” Viktor coos, snuggling his dog and his boyfriend tightly, sitting on the floor just a couple feet away from their landing jet. Viktor thinks this is his new favorite place. “You’re such a good girl.”

“The best doggo,” Yuuri murmurs. “Such a quality woofer.”

It takes them a solid minute of snuggles to calm Makkachin down enough so they can move to Viktor’s rooms. Seung-Gil tells them not to come in for their post-mission check-up until tomorrow, giving them a full day's worth of downtime. Viktor plans on spending all twenty-four hours with the two loves of his life.

“Hey,” Yuuri whispers to him later. They have Makkachin curled up asleep under the covers between them. “Vitya.”

“Hmm?”

“I think Makkachin was really upset without us. And Seung-Gil would totally dogsit again, but I think it was probably worse than he made it sound.”

“What are you thinking, _dorogoy_?”

“I think,” Yuuri says, “that next time we have a mission we should bring her with us.”

Viktor grins. “She _is_ a very good scientist.”

“She hasn’t dropped a beaker yet, which is more than I can say for Georgi.”

They giggle together, trying to stay quiet so they don’t wake Makkachin.

“Yeah, let’s bring her,” Viktor says. Yuuri’s answering grin is light-years wide.

And that’s how the Enterprise ends up with an official Landing Party Science Dog.

 

 

 

05.

_I am so unproductive today,_ Yuuri thinks, his hands buried in Mendovian soil as he searches for the elusive roots of the Mendovian Chameleon flower. It’s been a full hour and he still hasn’t found a single trace. Even Makkachin, in her adorable mini Starfleet uniform, is starting to get impatient. Yuuri sighs and switches gears to bagging and tagging the various dandelion-like plants around him.

Maybe he’d be able to concentrate better if Viktor could just stop _shamelessly flirting_ with him.

Actually, Yuuri would be able to concentrate better if Viktor could also just stop being so handsome and sweet and––somehow––so obviously smitten with Yuuri all the time.

Yuuri still doesn’t understand that last bit, but he’s happy. He thinks that maybe Viktor plays it up a little around other people. It’s like his way of confirming that, yes, their relationship is real. Just like how Yuuri seeks out his hand to hold whenever he can. It’s grounding.

But the awful pick-up lines are distracting. Very distracting.

“Are you from outerspace? Because your body is out of this world.”

Yuuri rolls his eyes. He continues scraping moss off a rock. “I’m working, Vitya.”

“You know, even in zero gravity I’d fall for you.”

Yuuri doesn’t even need to look up to know Viktor is sending him his signature wink. He tries very hard not to smile but it’s a losing game.

“Are you a carbon sample?” This time Yuuri does look up to see Viktor smirking at him, flicking his bangs flirtily. “Because I’d like to date you.”

Yuuri laughs. “Okay, okay. I’m drawing the line there. We are _already_ dating, you nerd.”

“You know, I still can’t believe that,” Viktor says. He walks over to a nearby tree and waits for Makkachin to sniff around and give him the all-clear before he leans against it.

“Believe what?” Yuuri asks.

“That we’re dating. That you _want_ to date me.”

Yuuri blushes. “Of course, I want to date you. You’re smart and beautiful and––” Yuuri waves a hand, sending dirt flying everywhere–– “you’re incredible, Vitya. I don’t know why _anyone_ wouldn’t want to date you.”

Viktor stares, mouth open and cheeks flush. Yuuri looks away, embarrassed. He knows he’s bad with words and maybe he doesn’t say it as often as he should, but surely Viktor knows how he feels?

“I lo––” Viktor clears his throat, starting again, “Sorry, I just get a little… insecure, sometimes.”

“Well, you’re lucky you have me to remind you of how absolutely amazing you are.”

“What did I ever do to deserve you?” Viktor asks reverently.

“Hey,” Yuuri scolds gently. “Stop that. You can't deserve another person. The universe isn't giving me to you because you’re a good person or whatever. I _chose_ to be with you because you make me feel happy and safe.”

Viktor looks at him like he's the sun. “Katsuki Yuuri.”

Yuuri waits for him to say more, but Viktor just smiles down at him gently. Yuuri sets down his equipment and stands, moving closer to Viktor until he’s pressed right up against the tree trunk. From this close, Yuuri can see Viktor’s pupils expanding out like a light echo, blooming bright in the darkness of space.

Makkachin’s mini Starfleet insignia shines golden under the three Mendovian suns. It’s blinding as Yuuri leans in and kisses Viktor.

 

 

 

+01.

After their med evals, Viktor and Yuuri uphold their usual post-mission ritual of making a beeline for one of their rooms and not leaving until their next shift. They end up in Yuuri’s room this time, tangled together in bed. Viktor cards his fingers through Yuuri’s thick, dark hair, humming and occasionally pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. Yuuri rests his head on Viktor’s chest, happy to bask in his earthy scent and warmth.

“You know,” Yuuri says casually, “I’m not sure we should be seeing each other.”

Viktor inhales sharply, his fingers stilling in Yuuri’s hair.

“Why’d you–? Oh,” Yuuri says, eyes widening. “Oh, no! Not like that! I like being with you, I do, I’m not trying to break up. I-I just meant that you outrank me, technically. Isn’t there a rule against captains dating their crewmembers? A conflict of interest? I’m sure Starfleet said something about a power imbalance?”

“Yuuri,” Viktor chokes out. “You could literally _destroy_ me. If there’s any kind of power imbalance then it’s the other way around, _solnyshko_ , because I love you too much for my own damn good.”

Yuuri lifts his head up to look Viktor in the eyes. “Wait, you love me?”

“You knew this,” Viktor says flippantly. “We’re _boyfriends._ I know I’ve never said it out loud, but I mean, I came close a couple of times. I’m sure you knew."

Yuuri most certainly did not know.

“Viktor,” he says slowly. “I had no idea. You… thought I knew? Before we were together, I mean.”

“Well, yeah,” Viktor says, dumbfounded. “I wasn’t exactly subtle. Wait, are you saying you didn’t know how stupidly into you I am? This whole time?”

Yuuri shakes his head.

“Oh,” Viktor says. “ _Oh my god_. I thought for _years_ that you knew how I felt and just didn’t say anything because you didn’t want to let me down. I resigned myself to an eternity of unrequited pining.”

“... Unrequited? Vitya, there isn’t a single alternate reality out there where I don’t love you with everything I am,” Yuuri says, matter-of-fact.

Viktor looks at him like Yuuri just pulled down the moon and handed it to him.

“Oh,” he says blushing. “Oh, you– you love me, too? I mean, I thought maybe a couple times you almost–– but you never––”

Yuuri wiggles his way up Viktor’s body so he can cup his ridiculous boyfriend’s face in his hands. He presses a soft kiss to Viktor’s lips and then to the tip of his nose.

“You Drylaxian dummy,” he says fondly. “Yes, I love you. I almost said it a couple times, too.”

“Wow,” Viktor sighs, smiling shakily. “I love hearing you say that.”

“I guess I’ll have to say it extra often, then,” Yuuri announces, pressing more kisses to Viktor’s face. “To make up for lost time.”

They make out for a couple minutes, basking in the warmth of each other's’ presence. Yuuri laments the fact that they could have been doing this for _years, apparently._

“Okay, so–” Viktor breaks away. “You _really_ didn’t know? What about all the times I asked you out? How jealous I was when you paid attention to literally anything that wasn’t me? What about that time we went to the Winter Ball together and I confessed my undying love only to have you throw up on my shoes?”

“ _What?_ ”

“Your sophomore year. You don’t remember?”

“No,” Yuuri whispers, mortified. “Oh my god. I-I can’t believe I did that. And when have you ever asked me out? I’m such an idiot why are you even into me at all I’m _so embarrassed––”_

Viktor cuts him off with a kiss. He pulls back chuckles lightly, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You’re lucky you’re cute, because you are denser than Chalnian flatbread.”

“Hey! I’m one of the top science officers in Starfleet,” Yuuri sniffs.

“Yes, yet you somehow managed to miss all the signs. What did you think I was doing when I was flirting with you?”

“I thought that was just your personality! I don’t know!”

“Have you ever seen me treat anyone the way I treat you?”

“Well, no.”

Viktor looks at him pointedly. Yuuri realizes that maybe he’s been a bit oblivious. He voices this thought.

“A bit? Wow, you think so?”

“You know, for someone who’s in love with me, you sure make fun of me a lot,” Yuuri pouts.

“Darling, you nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought I’d been dating my longtime crush for months, only to have you try end things over a Starfleet regulation. I think I’m allowed to poke a little fun at you.”

Yuuri blinks.

“Yeah, okay,” he says sheepishly, ducking his head. He snuggles further into Viktor’s embrace, thoroughly embarrassed. They lie quietly for a few minutes. Yuuri uses his fingertips to trace star systems onto the jut of Viktor’s hip. He thinks that he’s never felt closer to home than in this moment. Of course, because he’s Yuuri, he also has to shatter the illusion for himself.

“If you thought I knew how you felt and didn’t feel the same, why didn’t you just give up?” Yuuri asks because he needs to know why someone as captivating and ethereal as Viktor spent years pining away for someone as plain and boring as Yuuri. It just doesn’t add up.

“I would rather have you in my life as just a friend than not have you at all,” Viktor shrugs, like it’s an easy answer. “I was prepared to wait forever. Also, it wasn’t hard to hold out hope. You never dated anyone.”

“I never dated anyone because I was in love with you,” Yuuri mumbles, reaching up to fiddle with Viktor’s hair.

“It doesn’t matter, we’re dating each other now! Isn’t that wonderful?”

“What are we going to do about Starfleet, though? They’ll find out eventually and I know you’re Yakov’s favorite, but you can’t just go around dating your first officer, you know.”

“Starfleet can’t tell us what to do. Captain Isabella Yang-Leroy is _married_ to her first officer. Besides, it would take an entire armada to pry me away from you.”

Yuuri blushes. “You have to stop saying things like that.”

“Like what, _lyubov moya_?” Viktor smirks.

“Like… that. Romantic things.”

Viktor laughs. It’s like a star being born.

“Yuuri, people in romantic relationships tend to say romantic things,” he says, grinning. “I can’t help it! You just look so adorable when you’re embarrassed.”

“ _Vitya_ ,” Yuuri whines, but he can’t help but be hopelessly charmed. Viktor chuckles, dropping a kiss onto Yuuri’s flushed cheek.  

“See!” Viktor says. “Adorable!”

Yuuri grumbles, but settles down again, shifting so he can look up at Viktor. He’s got his eyes closed, lashes fanned out across his sharp cheekbones. Yuuri doesn’t know how someone so beautiful can exist in such close proximity to him. It’s like seeing a black hole up close. Yuuri can’t look away, hopelessly caught in the pull of Viktor’s gravity, eyes trained on the event horizon.

“Viktor?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you. Just wanted to remind you.”

Yuuri feels more than hears Viktor’s breath hitch. His eyes flutter open, sky blue meeting deep brown. His face flushes a light pink.

“Aw, who’s adorable now?”

“Shut up,” Viktor says, smiling, before he’s flipping them over, pinning Yuuri to the bed and showering him in kisses.

**Author's Note:**

> ...... and that's it! hopefully the next part of the series wont take too long!!
> 
> a couple notes:  
> • "Remember, the only difference between science and messing around is writing it down" is a quote from the Myth Busters  
> • "It’s a theory on why almost every planet has crab-like creatures" is inspired by [this tumblr post](http://kaaramel.tumblr.com/post/163085115412/extremely-dumb-concept-xenocarcinisation-we)  
> • The line "His eyes burn into Yuuri’s, bluer than a copper chloride flame" is actually inaccurate lol it should be copper (I) chloride. but copper (I) chloride just doesnt roll off the tongue lmao  
> • “Are you from outerspace? Because your body is out of this world" is shamelessly stolen from voltron (my boi lance)  
> • "You know, even in zero gravity I’d fall for you” is from [this tumblr post](https://xyloophones.tumblr.com/post/163336399790/space-pick-up-lines)  
> • so the "light echo" in the line "From this close, Yuuri can see Viktor’s pupils expanding out like a light echo, blooming bright in the darkness of space" can be seen [here, on NASA's tumblr](https://nasa.tumblr.com/post/163409100534/what-caused-this-outburst-of-this-star-named-v838) and it looks rad as heck  
> • Queen Seondeok is Seung-Gil's Not Dog. she was named by the amazing [@thecookiemonster77](http://thecookiemonster77.tumblr.com/)  
> • [This](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/12/10/298FB46900000578-0-image-a-31_1434099925746.jpg)is a full body lab coat  
> • ["Dammit Jim"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bgpbCRKKe0)
> 
>  
> 
> Translation notes (pls let me know if i mess any of these up):  
> -solnyshko: little sun  
> -lyubov moya: my love  
> -dorogoy: darling
> 
> And a giant, cosmic thank you to my lovely beta [Jackie](http://jackcatmeow.tumblr.com/)!! this would be incoherent without you <3
> 
> As usual, I'm [xyloophones](https://xyloophones.tumblr.com/) on tumblr and [@_xylophones](https://twitter.com/_xylophones) on twitter!! feel free to send in requests and prompts or just come say hi!!


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